Merus’ (MRUS) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $65.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on MRUS. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Merus from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Merus from $40.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. William Blair restated an outperform rating on shares of Merus in a report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Merus from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and issued a $66.00 price objective on shares of Merus in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $56.33.

Merus Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of MRUS traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $44.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,074,347 shares, compared to its average volume of 678,656. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.68. Merus has a 1-year low of $19.81 and a 1-year high of $52.03.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.24. The business had revenue of $7.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.94 million. Merus had a negative return on equity of 44.13% and a negative net margin of 390.36%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Merus will post -3.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Merus

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. RTW Investments LP boosted its holdings in Merus by 90.0% in the third quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 1,996,764 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $47,084,000 after purchasing an additional 945,871 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C raised its stake in Merus by 27.9% during the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 3,876,938 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $91,418,000 after buying an additional 845,000 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in Merus by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,637,309 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,026,000 after buying an additional 751,609 shares in the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Merus by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 888,888 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,444,000 after purchasing an additional 444,444 shares during the period. Finally, Rock Springs Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Merus by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Rock Springs Capital Management LP now owns 838,428 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $19,770,000 after purchasing an additional 359,897 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Merus Company Profile

Merus N.V., a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, engages in the development of antibody therapeutics in the Netherlands. Its bispecific antibody candidate pipeline includes Zenocutuzumab (MCLA-128), which is in a phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer and castration-resistant prostate cancer, as well as in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors that harbor Neuregulin 1.